Friday August 3rd, 2012 @ 8:19 AM

I really want to try suspension, but I have no idea where to start or look, some help? I live in Pittsburgh PA

Well, the bad news is there are no listed teams in Pittsburgh or even all of Pennsylvania. When there isn’t a crew handy, I always recommend searching surrounding areas to see about bringing a crew in to help you along this journey. A lot of us do travel quite often.

The good news I have for you is this. I will be in Pittsburgh providing suspensions towards the end of August (specifically the 27th & 28th). If you want, please feel free to either contact me at 917-863-1584 or via email at [email protected] and we can answer all questions you may have and possibly set up an appointment for you to suspend while I’m in town.

Tuesday July 24th, 2012 @ 1:20 AM

For the past 17 years i have been into body mods and have always wanted to try Suspension but i can’t seem to find any groups in Scotland only in England. Could you tell me if there is any groups Scotland and how i could go about doing it?

Well i dont know of any groups in Scotland, However, you are right! There are groups in England which is very close to you and worth travelling the short distance there for. I would recommend giving Matt Kirk a ring over there. (He can be reached at Fools Gold, 011 44 1892 522275).
If you dont want to head to the land of the queen, Id also recommend heading over to Ireland and meet up with the PMP suspension team for some fun. I was just over there working with them and man, is it beautiful over there. Definitely worth a trip to suspend. You can reach them at https://www.facebook.com/PM.SleezeSedition.

Friday June 29th, 2012 @ 6:02 PM

I am planning a suspension on my birthday in September. I checked out suspension.org and they listed 313 Suspension for the Chicago area. I am just wondering if you had heard anything about them?

Thank you.

Sadly, I do not know their work. I’ve been able to ask around about them but I have no first hand experience with them so I wouldn’t be able to give you a recommendation for or against them.
I can tell you however that if you’re in the Chicago area there are 2 teams that I know that I would feel comfortable referring to.
One of them is NuEthix. Great team in the Chicago area. You can reach them at 414-793-6033.
The other one is Wasteland and the can be reached at wastedyouthtattoo.com.

And trust me, I’ll be yelling at both teams for not being listed on suspension.org!

Saturday May 26th, 2012 @ 10:20 AM

Greetings and salutations BME. As the ages escalate ever increasingly I begin asking more questions concerning myself and the world. My question to the Fascinating BME is this…

How likely is one to receive an aneurysm or an embolism from performing an act of suspension? I have telescoped the Internet in finding the answer to this question; however I am unable to become satisfied with what I have thus far found.

Being unable to find information I had asked some Med students for any information they could offer. The one Med student I had asked explained to me that there is no true way of knowing, in theory however anything can happen. He went into explanation of a ‘worst case scenario’. In effect this is what he had to say…

With out sufficient hydration, tissue under the skin would dry out; upon drying out lesions may occur and as a result the likelihood of an aneurysm with it. With enough electrolytes and H2o any air under the skin and between the muscle should be reintroduced into the body’s system one molecule at a time, the greater the hydration the better and safer.

I must be perfectly honest, I am scared of possibly something going wrong. Is this a worth fearing? Is it possible that there is simply not enough information available to a possible aneurysm? or embolism? Regardless of the research available; I would like to have BME’s opinion on this, it seems very undissected- and thus I feel I must ask. Statistically speaking, there seems to be no research done on fatalities or suspension incidents. Has anyone died from an act of human body suspension? Direct or indirect? I do not see enough evidence.

Many Regards to BME and the community.

Mark.

Let me start by saying that I am NOT a medical professional. I don’t even play one on BME. With that out of the way I can relate to you what I do know and hopefully steer you straight.

An aneurysm and an embolism are two very different things. An aneurysm is when there is a weakness in the wall of a blood vessel, causing it to abnormally balloon. Noone knows what causes aneurysms but we do know some factors that play roles. Things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, etc. (suspension so far doesn’t play a known factor, , or to be more technical skin lacerations and trauma aren’t a known factor).

An embolism however is when an air bubble or blood clot or other object travels thru the blood stream and becomes stuck in a passage. I’m assuming your real worry is air being introduced into a blood vessel. Suspension doesn’t work like that. When skin separates from fatty tissue a pocket is created that air will be drawn into, however it is not injected as a foreign body in your blood stream, which would be necessary for an embolism. The air that is introduced (subcutaneous emphysema) is harmless and easily reabsorbed into the body thru tissue. Subcutaneous Emphysema and Embolisms are NOT the same thing.

So to answer the question of how likely an aneurism or embolism is to happen due to suspension, the answer is simple based on current knowledge, not at all. Your fears are completely unfounded and as far as recorded history tells us it has never happened so far. Although yes, anything can happen. You could be struck by lightning whir suspending, but that doesn’t mean lightning strikes are a danger of suspension.

Now, as to your next question concerning death. No, as far as I or anyone knows, noone has ever died during a suspension. I’m not saying it isn’t possible, shock can be a life threatening condition and with the rigging I’ve seen out there in some substandard teams there is a possibility of a fall from height that could induce death.
But no, it hasn’t happened yet to the thousands of thousands of people who suspend and it hopefully will never happen.

To keep this trend going, support good suspension teams and demand that ones who don’t perform up to standard raise their level of operations. If that happens then not only would it never have happened before but we can make it so that it will never happen in the future.

Friday May 25th, 2012 @ 9:47 AM

I’m a 19 year old body modification enthusiast. For about a year now I have been interested in participating in a suspension but I have no clue where to find a group that does suspensions. Is there a website for finding suspension groups or could anyone tell me who to contact? I live in the Phoenix, Arizona area. The only group I know of is Steve Haworth’s but not sure whether or not it is open to first timers or the public for that matter.

Anything would help. Thank you.

There absolutely is. For a pretty comprehensive list of suspension groups by location suspension.org has it covered. It doesn’t have every group and it also makes no claims for any group listed so definitely do your homework researching a group before suspending with them.
Looking over the list it seems that in Arizona Steve’s group is the only one listed. I’ve seen Steve work and let me tell you, he is honestly one of the best coaches/guides that I’ve worked with.
As for whether they are open to the public or first timers the only way to find out is to ask! Every group works differently so it’s best to always ask each individual group on how they operate!

One more note, if for some reason Life suspended doesnt work out you’re not too far away from Ascension located in New Mexico or the Las Vegas Suspension Syndicate in Nevada.

Wednesday May 16th, 2012 @ 9:16 AM

Yesterday I tried my first suspension. It didn’t go that well, I gave up in mere seconds. My guess is that it’s because I was way too tensed up (even shaking). Well, the next time I can try it is next month, but I want to make sure I will get some airtime. Is there a way I can “train” myself beforehand without actually having to get pierced every time?

Thanks.

Well no, there is no way really to “train” yourself. You could practice Yoga, meditation, breath techniques, etc, etc but none will actually prepare you for your suspension, which is why you’ll notice that suspension is an experience that everyone can explore. Whether you’re obese, skinny, trained, a couch potato, hardened to pain, scared of needles, etc, etc, suspension is something that transcends all these variables.
The real issue here though is that you went up, gave up and said you cant do this, came down…. and then that was it. There was no second attempt. Now without being there or you telling me why you had to come down I don’t have a lot to go on, but certain variables could have been changed to maybe get you more at ease. Perhaps you were tensing your shoulders, perhaps the tension on the hooks were off or the placement was shoddy, maybe you weren’t breathing, or you weren’t in the moment or a million other things, but if something is not right, and you just cant suspend, next time try to figure out whats stopping you, then CHANGE THAT PART, and give it another try.

I cant tell you How many times i’ve been up and had to come back down, change something or just even give my body a small break and go back up to an amazing suspension. Sometimes Ive had to come down 2 or 3 or even 4 times before getting to a point where i’m “ready”. This is normal and happens to a lot of people.

Wednesday May 16th, 2012 @ 8:18 AM

I’m interested in doing a basic suspension for an upcoming birthday of mine. Unfortunately after a few failed attempts at contacting CORE, I haven’t had any luck finding a crew to help me out. If you guys could point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!

You’re lucky you’re in Texas! Being in Texas is kinda like being on the EAST coast, you have a huge selection of good teams to choose from. Obviously the one I’d recommend the most, Rites of Passage has a TX chapter in Austin, there’s TSD ([email protected]) in Dallas, also in Dallas is one of my absolute favorite up and coming teams “For Humans” ([email protected]) , as well as an AGRO chapter in Houston. And these are just The ones that I would choose, there’s many others.

Monday May 14th, 2012 @ 6:47 AM

Now I know probably none of you are qualified to comment on self harm it’s self but I am have recently considered going for a suspension again after a failed attempt a couple of years back when life wasn’t so grand.

However, I now have 2 years 4 months free from self harm but my arms/legs are scarred from it, how would you say is best to approach a suspension team about the subject as I’d like to reassure them that suspending for me is not about self harm at all.

Could you recommend me a suspension team in the UK (the person I originally suspended with no longer does them)

Thanks guys and girls!

The best way to approach a team with this issue is also the most obvious. Just be upfront and honest. I don’t see any issue with suspending someone who used to self harm that would prevent a suspension. Perhaps there maybe some scar tissue that would affect hook placement but any professional suspension team will have no problem working around those scars and no bias against you due to your past.

As for who to suspend with. In the UK, I’d say to reach out to Matt Kirk ([email protected]) or to reach out to constant elevation ([email protected]). If neither of them work for you then you can always try looking for a team on the “groups” page of suspension.org.

And congratulations on finding more constructive ways to save yourself.

Wednesday May 9th, 2012 @ 12:26 AM

I have always been interested in suspensions but the only crew i can really find in Australia is hack in Newcastle and it is hard to find out when their events are on . could you recommended any crews in the Sydney area?

Well, whenever someone asks about where they can find a local group my first response is to always tell them to go check out suspension.org. However, everyone knows that already and since suspension.org just lists groups but doesn’t actually vouch for the quality of any, i’m assuming that what you’re really asking is what group i would recommend. Well, there are some groups in the Sydney area, for instance First Blood is in Sydney, Waylay is in Brisbane and there are others but what i would do is shoot over to NZ to hang with the Skindependent crew. In that part of the globe Eden and his crew are definitely my go to people and i can vouch for their work.

Tuesday May 8th, 2012 @ 11:04 PM

I am attending college, and as of now I have a research paper due and I need to interview someone who has experienced this. I have experminted with suspension, I just want to see if any one on here is willing to state there opinion on this?? if u can it would help alot thanks!

State their opinion on suspension? Thats a bit broad of a question. Do you want to discuss how it can utterly change your life, opening up doors to yourself that you never knew? How it can completely be an amazing release and allowing you to regain yourself? How it can test your own strength and show you your true merit? Do you want to discuss procedures and techniques? The current trends in the community? Sadly there is too broad a topic given, except i will say this… suspension is the greatest thing that i have ever experienced in my entire life.
As for finding people to interview, you are always welcome to email myself ([email protected]) but you can also find many other like minded individuals right here on IAM. Make some friends here and i assure you, youll have no lack of interview material.